Long-tailed Tit

Both sexes: Black and pink with white crown and long black tail.

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The Long-tailed Tit is an adorable, small, fluffy pinkish bird.

The shoulders and underparts are pinkish. The head has a white crown with
black marks above the eyes and into the nape. They have red eye rings and a very small
black bill. The black and white tail is very
long, over half the length of the bird and the longest tail of any British
bird in proportion to its body. The legs are black-brown.

Juveniles lack pink and have grey-black cheeks.

Long-tailed tits are not really members of the Tit family but of the
Aegithalidae family.

Close-up

Long-tailed Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Scientific Name

Aegithalos caudatus

Length

15 cm (6")

Wing Span

17-19 cm (7-8")

Weight

7-9 g (¼ oz)

Breeding Pairs

210000

Present

All Year

Status

Green

Voice

Long-tailed tits have a twittering, trilling song, but it is their high-pitched twittering contact calls
that will usually get them noticed; typically "tsee-tsee-tsee" but also "tsirrup".

Feeding

They feed mostly on insects and their larvae, and spiders, but also on
berries.

Increasingly, Long-tailed Tits are feeding from peanut feeders and suet cake in gardens.

Nesting

The Long-tailed Tit's nest is an elastic ball of moss, spiders' webs, lichen,
feathers, and hair that is built by both birds in a bush, hedge or tree;
brambles and gorse are favourite places. The nest may take up to 3 weeks to
build and be lined with more than 2000 feathers.

The female lays and incubates smooth and glossy eggs that are white with
purplish-red spots, and are about 14 mm by 10 mm. Both adults feed the
newly-hatched young, and are often assisted by other birds, especially males, that have
failed to breed that season.

Breeding Starts

Clutches

Eggs

Incubation (days)

Fledge (days)

early April

1-2

5-16

12-14

14-18

Movements

Long-tailed Tits are resident and mostly sedentary throughout the UK. Some
move short distances from their nesting sites, especially in the winter when
families join roaming flocks of up to typically 20 birds, often including
other species of Tits, in search of food within a winter feeding territory.

Conservation

Long-tailed Tits seem to be doing well, possibly because of milder winters
but also increased use of gardens.

In harsh winters, mortality can be high among these small birds, but they
usually recover quickly. In the winter, flocks will huddle together to
conserve body heat, sometimes using nest boxes or roosting pockets.